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Fantasia 2000
Wednesday, January 19, 2000 I slept late this morning, because instead of driving to work, I was going directly to Seattle Center to meet up with my colleagues for a company outing. Disturbing -- the car needed oil when I had them check it at the full service gas station. I hope it doesn't have a leak! It was a bright sunny morning, a bit chilly. M--- and I found each other in front of the Pacific Science Center, among throngs of schoolchildren. The others came rushing up. I'd heard on the radio that traffic from the east side was still bad. Along with Chip, Kellie and Arthur, we had Chip's wife Sally and young son Eric, and Arthur's wife Dominique -- she's visiting from England this week, and this outing was in her honor. To our chagrin, they had no record of the tickets Kellie had ordered yesterday via the web. It was too late for us to be admitted for the first screening anyway. We bought tickets for the 12:30 show. I suggested that we should get on the monorail and ride to Westlake Center for an early lunch. It's a very Seattle-y thing to do, and we are showing Dominique the sights in hopes that she'll like Seattle. Lunch was good, especially because everyone could go to different places for the food they liked. I got the polenta, marinara and goat cheese bowl from World Wraps. After we were done eating, I inspected the rubber stamp store with Kellie. We should have a stamping session at work! Our big conference table would be ideal. We made the return trip on the monorail, and got to the new Imax theater in good time. I didn't realize that this new theater was in addition to the Imax theater already there. It's very snazzy! A ramp wraps around the auditorium, bringing us into the steep seats at about midway up the slope.
I liked this new Fantasia. Is it as good as the original? I'm not sure. But it's very similar, and has the same middle-brow sensibility. Many classical music buffs are snobs about program music, that is, music that tells a story. I like it! There was a scene with whales flying in air that was dreamlike. I wonder if there was an influence from the Star Trek movie? The Donald Duck sequence had some real emotion to it. I drove to work, but spent only a few hours there, since I had dance class tonight and couldn't be late. We had a conference call with a contributor to our site, but when the converation got extremely technical, I started doodling, which made Chip laugh.
My friends Mark and Holly gave me a ride to dance class, which was helpful in two ways. The fact that they were coming to get me committed me to getting home and being ready, and I'd never been to this lesson venue before, so a ride meant I didn't have to find the place. The class is Swing Foxtrot. I'd missed the first week, so I was puzzled by the box step, at first. It wasn't the slow-quick-quick I'd learned in previous dance lessons over the years. Instead, all the steps are in an even rhythm. No problem, I'll soon pick it up! I don't know if what we are learning qualifies as foxtrot, but I think it will be a useful dance for learning the basics of this kind of partnering. My previous social dance experience was helping me, I think. I asked Mark and Holly to drop me off at the Century Ballroom. I treated myself to a latte in the cafe, and chatted with Josh, whom I've danced with most nights recently. He's another scientist getting into dancing. It was crowded and warm in the ballroom. I danced with a lot of people tonight -- Dan, Earl, Steve Steiner, Mike, Carla, and many more. Some even asked me, which is always a nice bonus. The bus arrived just as I was walking past a stop, in the rain. I'd have kept walking if I'd been one block closer to home.
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